Lake Park bank robber likely serial criminal
FBI: Man who held up Lake Park bank likely behind other heists.
The young white man with sunken eyes who held up a Chase bank Tuesday is suspected in eight other bank heists.
LAKE PARK — The man who robbed a Lake Park bank Tuesday likely is the same person who robbed two other Palm Beach County banks, and six Broward County banks, in the past three weeks, authorities said Thursday.
The man seen in surveillance-camera photos holding up the Chase Bank on the 300 block of Northlake Boulevard in Lake Park, just west of U.S. 1, at about 4 p.m. Tuesday is believed to be the robber seen at the other banks, an FBI spokesman confirmed Thursday.
The FBI says the same person is behind the failed robbery of the Chase Bank in Jupiter on Tuesday and a successful one at another Chase Bank in Boynton Beach on Oct. 3, as well as the six Broward incidents.
The Sheriff ’s Office described the Lake Park robber as a white man between the ages of 20 and 25 with sunken eyes and a thin build — about 6 feet tall and 170 pounds. He was last seen wearing a dark gray T-shirt with long camouflage-style pants and a jean hat with an emblem on the front.
The description was similar for
the robber in Tuesday’s Jupiter incident, which added that he had blue eyes and blond hair but said he was closer to 5-foot-5 to 5-foot7. He was wearing a khaki button-up shirt, camouflage pants and a blue base
ball-style cap.
Jupiter police said the man walked into the bank, on Indiantown Road just east of Central Boulevard, at about 2:45 p.m., then “implied that he had a weapon, and demanded money from the bank teller.” Police said the man ran off without cash and might have driven away in a silver Mazda 3 hatchback.
In the Boynton Beach heist Oct. 3, just after 5 p.m., a man passed a demand note to the teller at the Chase Bank branch on North Congress Avenue near Old Boynton Road, then fled with an undisclosed amount of cash.
The Broward robberies took place Sept. 22 at a Citibank in Oakland Park; Oct. 1 at a TD Bank in Fort Lauder- dale; Oct. 4 at a Wells Fargo in Margate; Oct. 6 at PNC branches in Fort Lauderdale and in Coconut Creek; and Monday at a Wells Fargo in Wilton Manors.
Anyone with information on any of the incidents is asked to contact the individual police departments or the FBI, or to call Crime Stop- pers of Palm Beach County at 800-458-TIPS (8477). Callers can remain anonymous and might be eligible for a reward.